Uttam tells voters to punish defectors

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has enthralled the voters to defeat all MLAs who defected to ruling party to gain power, money an position.

Addressing a massive public meeting at Meripada in Dornakal constituencies on Sunday evening as part of Congress Praja Chaitanya Bus Yatra, Uttam Kumar Reddy strongly condemned Dornakal MLA Redya Naik, who was elected on Congress ticket in 2014 elections, but defected to the TRS. “Redya Naik has not only betrayed the party, but also the people of Dornakal who voted in favour of Congress. You must punish him by giving him a humiliating defeat in next elections,” the TPCC chief asked the people. Similarly, he said all leaders who betrayed the Congress party in its difficult times must be thrown out of public life in next elections, he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said he was highly impressed with the enthusiasm shown by the people of Dornakal towards the Praja Chaitanya Bus Yatra. He said traditionally Dornakal has been the Congress seat since independence and expressed confidence that the party would retain the seat in next elections, although with a different candidate. Right from the level of Sarpanch to a minister, Redya Naik grew his political career in Congress. He was always given utmost respect and importance. However, Redya Naik has joined the ruling TRS for opportunism and to run sand and drug mafias, he said.

He said Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao could not be pardoned for the sin of encouraging largescale defections which shattered the very existence of democracy in Telangana and diluted the definition of an elected representative.

The TPCC chief accused the TRS Government of cheating the tribals. “You were promised 12% reservation, three acres of land, double bed room houses and other sops. But none of the promises have been fulfilled. STs are entitled to get reservation in proportionate to their population. No legal formalities were required to enhance ST quota. However, TRS Government denied STs an additional three percent reservation and now Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is blaming the Centre for the same. Both TRS and BJP are equally responsible for denying opportunities and their due share to STs in jobs and education,” he said.

He said Redya Naik had no courage to question KCR for not giving constitutionally possible additional quota for STs.

Referring to the reports of TRS leaders and officials harassing Congress workers, Uttam Kumar Reddy warned that those mistreating the Congress workers would face severe consequences after the party returns to power.

Stating that so far he has covered 27 Assembly constituencies as part of Praja Chaitanya Yatra, Uttam Kumar Reddy said every where he has seen a clear wave in favour of Congress party. He said people were highly disappointed with the performance of TRS Government which did not fulfil any of the major promise. He said as the then Housing Minister, he had sanctioned thousands of houses for Dornakal constituency. But the KCR Government did not give a single double bed room house for Tribals.

Uttam Kumar Reddy promised that the Congress party after coming to power in next elections would waive off crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh in a single take. He said support price would be given to 17 different crops under a comprehensive plan. He said the crop insurance premium too would be paid by the State Government.

The TPCC chief also slammed the TRS Government for rising unemployment. He said presently nearly two lakh posts are lying vacant in State Government. As against 1.7 lakh vacancies that existed at the time of Telangana formation, not even 7,000 posts have been filled. He promised that the next Congress Government would create lakhs of jobs and all unemployed youth would be paid a monthly allowance of Rs. 3,000. He also promised to take measures for the economic empowerment of women in the State.

Uttam Kumar Reddy reminded that Tribal farmers of Khammam were implicated in false cases, chained and hand-cuffed for demanding remunerative prices for their chilli crop. All Tribal must teach a fitting lesson to TRS in next elections for this humiliation, he asked.